44,000 Jaguars and Land Rovers recalled over air pollution

JAGUAR Land Rover will recall more than 44,000 cars because they are belching out more carbon dioxide than claimed by the manufacturer.

Owners of ten models made between 2016 and 2019 – including the Land Rover Discovery, Range Rover Evoque and Jaguar F-Pace – will be contacted and advised to take their cars to a garage.

All models have two litre diesel or petrol engines.

The unspecified fault means they are all generating excessive emissions of CO2, the gas which causes global warming.

The problem – which has gone unnoticed for up to three years on some models – was picked up during checks carried out by the Vehicle Certification Agency, a branch of the Department for Transport.

Jaguar Land Rover has yet to agree a solution with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, which oversees vehicle recalls. This has to happen before the recall goes ahead.

Last night JLR did not respond to requests for more details about the exact nature of the fault. But it told consumer group Which? that owners would experi- ence minor changes to the ‘overall vehicle experience’ when their cars are fixed.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing. But it comes at a sensitive time for the car industry, which is under the spotlight following the VW diesel emissions cheating scandal.

Neil Barlow, head of vehicle engineering at the DVSA said: ‘ DVSA’s priority is to protect everyone from unsafe drivers and vehicles. This includes vehicles that are damaging our environment.’

A Jaguar Land Rover spokesman said: ‘Jaguar Land Rover is conducting a voluntary recall following the identification of CO2 performance variability with certain Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles fitted with 2.0L diesel or petrol engines.

‘Affected vehicles will be repaired free of charge and every effort will be made to minimise inconvenience to the customer.’

Volkswagen is to cut up to 7,000 jobs by 2023 as it moves to producing electric vehicles. It said it hoped the cuts could be achieved through retirement offers. The firm said it would increase investments in ‘future topics’ like battery-powered cars and automated driving.

‘Damaging the environment’